LEGO Ideas: The 10 Most Exciting Projects

We all love LEGO. It can provide hours of fun whether you’re a child, teenager or adult. And in recent years it has begun to cater for the geekier amongst us. We can build the Death Star, the TARDIS and Hogwarts. And thanks to the LEGO Ideas website we now have more say than ever. Launched in 2008, LEGO Ideas provides the opportunity for anyone in the world to submit an idea for a potential Lego product.

The process begins with submitting a written description of the concept accompanied by pictures of the sample LEGO model, which is then made into a project page made viewable to other users. These users then have the chance to support the project. Supporting a project doesn’t require any money like Kickstarter. Instead the supporter has to answer a few questions about how hard the set would be to build, age range, expected price, etc. If the project gains 10,000 supporters, within a certain time frame, it goes into review. Here, a board of marketing representatives and set designers evaluate the project using specific criteria. Current projects under review include an Agents of Shield set, an Iron Giant model, and the Addams Family Mansion. Getting through the review can be tough and quite a few projects get rejected. One of the rejected projects we’re saddest about here at Nerdgeist, is the Serenity ship model that included all of our favourite Firefly characters.

If a person is lucky enough to pass the review, their project will go into production. They’ll be able to give direct input to professional LEGO designers who will create the set, ready for worldwide release. They also will receive 1% of the total net sales of the product, some complimentary copies of their LEGO ideas set, as well as credit and bio in the set materials. Successful projects include the 21308 Adventure Time set and The Beatles Yellow Submarine.

The best part about the LEGO ideas process is that anyone can submit an idea, and anyone can lend their support. All you have to do is head on over to their website and make an account. To give you some inspiration, we’ve listed our 10 favourite projects which you can view below.

1. NBC’s The Office

This set contains a great variety of rooms including the main office space, Michael’s office, Darryl’s office and the conference room, as well as many of the Dunder Mifflin employees. It also comes with lots of cool accessories like Michael’s Dundie, Creed’s guitar and Angela’s cats, so that you can recreate your favourite episodes. However, the most fun part of the set is definitely the inclusion of Dwight’s Bobble head in Jell-O.

On first thought it would seem as if the Gotham set would focus on Wayne Manor or the Bat Cave, which are represented in the various smaller add-ons. Instead, the main module is of the Gotham PD Headquarters which actually seems more apt considering the show is centred around Detective Jim Gordon. Whilst the front of the building is very impressive, the real gem is the inside which contains jail cells and Nygma’s lab. This set also comes with over 20 characters, as well as a police car.

There are a lot of Disney projects on the website, so to gain supporters the idea really needs to stand out. And the creator has really done that here. Instead of making a standard room or scene, they have come up with a fully working marionette of Pinocchio. And if you’re still not impressed, it even comes with a Jiminy Cricket minifigure.

Although this project doesn’t relate to any movies or TV shows, it is a work of art. There is a lot of detail and intricate pieces in this set including sea anemones, rocks and seaweed. The shark is the biggest animal present but the creator has also added stingrays, starfish and crabs. And hey, if you can find a clownfish minifigure, you could try recreating Finding Nemo.

This set recreates the iconic Star Wars scene that everybody, even those that haven’t seen the movie, know about. It’s a little simpler than others on the list in terms of accessories and minifigures, but the model itself is so impressive, that it doesn’t need any embellishments. But the best part of this project is most certainly the inclusion of lightsabers so that Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker can battle it out authentically.

Bringing some glamour to your life, the RuPaul’s Drag Race set encompasses the best of the 8 season show. All of your favourite queens are represented including Katya, Bianca Del Rio, Jinkx Monsoon, and RuPaul herself. And of course, they all come with accessories. The set is comprised of two rooms; the Workroom and the Main Stage. The Main Stage showcases everybody’s favourite challenge, The Snatch Game (aptly named here as the Clutch Game), where you can pit Bianca’s Judge Judy against Katya’s Bjork.

This project has everything you could hope for in a Flintstones set. Both The Flintstones and The Rubbles are included. The house is small but contains some clever accessories like a stone chair, a steak and a stone-age music player. And most importantly Fred’s classic car is there so you can drive your favourite characters around.

Of all the projects on the list, I’m most surprised that LEGO hasn’t yet made this one. Friends was a highly popular show around the world, and Central Perk was at the centre of it. There are so many scenes that can be recreated with this brilliantly executed set which includes Rachel. Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross. Even Gunther is present, behind the counter, ready to serve everyone coffee.

On first look this set looks simpler than the rest. It’s smaller in size and comes with no minifigures or accessories. However, like the Coral Reef set, this actually packs in a lot of intricate and impressive detail. The placing of the coloured bricks really makes them look like balloons and the small but cute house brings it all together.

Not only do you get to build an awesome Lego set, afterwards you can enjoy a game of chess. The set comes with classic chess pieces (pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, a king and a queen) but with all the added details from the books/movies. It even includes minifigures of Harry, Ron and Hermione.